Showing posts with label Mark Strong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Strong. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Review: Netflix's "ATLAS" Has Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Booty

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 54 of 2024 (No. 1998) by Leroy Douresseaux

Atlas (2024)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for strong sci-fi violence, action, bloody images and strong language
DIRECTOR:  Brad Peyton
WRITERS:  Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite
PRODUCERS:  Greg Berlanti, Jeff Fierson, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Joby Harold, Brad Peyton, Sarah Schechter, Tory Tunnell, Benny Medina, and Jennifer Lopez
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  John Schwartzman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Bob Ducsay
COMPOSER:  Andrew Lockington

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla, Mark Strong, Briella Guiza, Adia Smith-Eriksson, and Gregory James Cohan (voice)

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:
--Atlas is a Jennifer Lopez movie, but science fiction does not fit her

--The movie is average and filled with ridiculous ideas, but the action-violence of the last act is good enough to somewhat justify the time you spent watching this, dear readers


Atlas is a 2024 American action-thriller and science fiction film from director Brad Peyton.  Atlas is a “Netflix Original” and debuted on the Netflix streaming service May 24, 2024.  Atlas pits a counter-terrorism analyst against a rogue artificial intelligence (“A.I.” or “AI”) which believes that the only way to save the Earth and humanity is to destroy most of humanity.

Atlas opens on October 2, 2043.  AI humanoid robots are at war with humanity, and they are led by the AI terrorist, Harlan (Simu Liu).  By the end of the conflict, three million people are dead.  This leads human military forces to create the International Coalition of Nations (ICN).  After a string of ICN victories, Harlan and his AI robots are forced to flee into outer space.

Twenty-eight years later, renewed AI-led terrorist attacks force the ICN to begin searching for Harlan's whereabouts.  The ICN has created a fleet of mecha known as “ARCs.”  These are giant robotic suits of armor worn by humans who “sync” with the AI that operate the ARCs.  The ICN seeks help from Atlas Maru Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), a woman whose mother, Val Shepherd (Lana Parrilla), designed Harlan.  Atlas has a deep distrust of all artificial intelligence.  In a confrontation with Casca Vix (Andrew Popoola), one of Harlan's lieutenants, Atlas learns that Harlan has a base on GR-39, a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy.

The ICN sends a battalion of ARCs, the Fourth Rangers Battalion, which is led by the taciturn Colonel Elias Banks (Sterling K. Brown), on a mission to GR-39, aboard the space ship “ the Dhiib.”  Atlas insists on accompanying the mission because she says no one knows Harlan better than her.  The mission is to capture Harlan and to bring him back to Earth.  However, what neither Atlas nor the ICN knows is just exactly what Harlan knows about the mission and about Atlas.  Now, to save humanity, Atlas must rely on the thing that she hates most, an AI, one named “Smith” (Gregory James Cohan).

Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite's screenplay for Atlas is a hodge-podge of ideas that are similar to what audiences will find in such films as The Terminator (1984), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), I, Robot (2004), and Pacific Rim (2013).  If properly developed, these ideas could have made a fine film instead of the mediocre film, which Atlas is.

The problem with Atlas is Jennifer Lopez.  Atlas is a science fiction film, and it is also a Jennifer Lopez vehicle, although she is woefully miscast here.  Science fiction is not her genre, and she really doesn't seem to have an understanding of what a character like Atlas Maru Shepherd could be.  That may be the fault of director Brad Peyton, who specializes in mediocre to average sci-fi/fantasy genre films like 2018's Rampage.  Lopez plays Atlas as petulant and as way too narrow minded to be some kind of expert on science and technological matters.  Truthfully, Atlas would be grieving and guilt-ridden, which I think would make her introspective.  Lopez plays Atlas as a brat who really needs the guidance of others, even the AI she hates so much.

Atlas is saved by the action-violence of its last act, and by the appearance of Harlan, played by actor Simu Liu.  Best known for playing the title character in Disney/Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, here, Liu is deliciously cold-blooded and ruthless as Harlan, and I wish there were more of him in this film.  But, alas, we get what we get.  Atlas is average entertainment, and you, dear readers, can be entertained if you ignore its improbable scenario.  If you are patient enough, Jennifer Lopez's fine, round posterior even makes a cameo, perfectly bound in a pair of tights.  If Atlas has a “cherry on top,” it's that fine bee-hind.
 
5 of 10
C+
★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.


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Thursday, June 30, 2022

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from June 26th to 30th, 2022 - Update #18

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:

ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

NETFLIX - From DeadlineCameron Diaz retired from acting in 2018, but now she is coming out of retirement to star with Jamie Foxx in the Netflix action-comedy, "Back in Action."

JAMES BOND - From Deadline:  "James Bond" producer Barbara Broccoli has revealed that it will be “at least two years“ before the next 007 movie begins filming and that the task of finding an actor to replace Daniel Craig hasn’t begun “because it’s a reinvention of Bond.”

SCANDAL - From Deadline:  The Grammy-winning recording artist, R. Kelly, was sentenced at a Brooklyn, NYC federal court to 30 years on nine counts of sex trafficking and racketeering.

CELEBRITY - From ScreenGeek:  "Jurassic World" star Chris Pratt says that some online commentary about him has made him cry.

CHADWICK BOSEMAN - From RadarOnline:  "Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman died without a will.  His widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, has asked that the late actor's estate be divided evenly betweeen her and Boseman's parents.

MOVIES - From Deadline:  An array of British acting talent will appear in the period thriller, "The Critic," including Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, and Mark Strong, to name a few.

TELEVISION - From DeadlineAlex Wagner will take over Rachel Maddow's coveted 9 p.m. spot on MSNBC beginning Aug. 16th.  "The Rachel Maddow Show" is currently only appearing on Monday nights.  The name for Wagner's show is to be determined.

CELEBRITY - From Variety:  Controversial Oscar-nominee Alec Baldwin will interview controversial multiple Oscar winner Woody Allen.  The interview will appear on Instagram live Tues., June 28th at 10:30 a.m. EST.

BOX OFFICE - From Variety:  As the final numbers role in, "Elvis" is the winner of the 6/24 to 6/26/2022 weekend box office with a take of 31.1 million dollars over 29.6 million dollars for "Top Gun: Maverick."

From BoxOfficePro:  The winner of the 6/24 to 6/26/2022 weekend box office is thus far a tie, according to early estimates.  New film, Elvis, and former champ, "Top Gun: Maverick," have both grossed 30.5 million dollars.

From TheWrap:  "Top Gun: Maverick" has become the first Tom Cruise movie to surpass the billion dollar mark at the worldwide box office office.

From Variety: The box office is back, and movie theaters are feeling confident.

AWARDS - From Deadline: The winners of at the BET Awards 2022 were announced last night, Sun., June 26th.  "Silk Sonic" (Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak) let all winners.

POLITICS - From YahooHuffPost:  Actor and international movie star, Samuel L. Jackson, rips Supreme Coon ... I mean ... Court Justice Clarence Thomas over his hypocrisy on Roe v. Wade and interracial marriage.

EMMYS - From Deadline:  The winners at the 2022 / 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were announced Fri., June 24th, streaming on Paramount+.  ABC's "General Hospital" won "Outstanding Daytime Drama."

From DeadlineMishael Morgan becomes the first Black woman to win win "Outstand Lead Actress" at the Daytime Emmys by winning  "Outstanding Lead Performance in a Daytime Drama, Actress" at the 49th Daytime Emmy Awards (Fri., June 24th) for her role as "Amanda Sinclair" on "The Young and the Restless."

MOVIES - From BBC:   "'Full Metal Jacket' and Kubrick: The Ultimate Anti-War Films" - a look the anti-war themes in the films of the late director, Stanley Kubrick.

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ROE V. WADE - From NPR:  The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has overturned "Roe v. Wade."  It's gone, boo.

From TheRoot:  During a re-election really with Donald Trump, Congresswoman Mary Miller said that the overturning of "Roe v. Wade" a "historic victory for white life." [Sometimes, they tell you who they are - Leroy]

From GoogleDocs:  "Roe v. Wade": What you can do.

From RSNNewYorker:  We're not going back to the time before Roe. We're going somewhere worse.

From RSNVanityFair:  Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer's wrote a withering dissent to the court's conservative majority. Their conclusion: this opinion is "the curtailment of women's rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens."

From Truthout:  Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass) led a group of 20 Black Congresswomen who urged President Biden to to take urgent action to protect abortion rights.

From GuardianUK:  "'Fewer Rights Than Their Grandmothers': Read Three Justices' Searing Abortion Dissent"

UVALDE, TEXAS MASS SHOOTING:

From YahooAP:  An 18-year-old gunman slaughtered 19 children and two teachers on Tues., May 24th, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas.  All 21 victims were in the same 4th grade classroom at Robb Elementary.

From TheDailyBeast:  Texas's top law enforcement official, Department of Public Safety Director Steve McGraw, has said that the school shooter in Uvalde, Texas could have been taken down in three minutes.

From TheDailyBeast:  Police officers responding to last month’s mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school never even tried to open the door to the classroom where young children were trapped with the gunman, according to a new report. 

From Jacobin:  "The Uvalde Massacre has exposed the lies that once justified police militarization" by Branko Marcetic

From Truthout:  We don’t need more evidence that police can’t be trusted.

From Truthout:   44 percent of GOP voters view mass shootings as part of living in “Free Society”

From ABCNews:  Arnulfo Reyes, a teacher who survived the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, calls the local police "cowards" because of slow response to an active shooter at his school, Robb Elementary.  All of 11 students in his class were killed.

From DallasNews:  Joe Garcia, the husband of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, has died of a heart attack two days after the murder of his wife.  They had been married for 24 years and had been high school sweethearts.

From Axios:  Texas gubernatorial candidate, Beto O'Rourke, interrupted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's gaslighting press conference on the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting.

From USAToday:  Beto O'Rourke's outburst at Gov. Greg Abbott's Uvalde news conference shows the spine Democrats need.

From BostonGlobe:  Steve Kerr, head coach of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, asks "When are we going to do something?"

From NBCNews:  A Robb Elementary teacher describes "the longest 35 minutes of my life" and the terror she now feels.

From NBCNews:  The Uvalde school district had an extensive safety plan, but 19 children were killed at Robb Elementary anyway.  Even security plans that appear to be up to the latest research-based standards may have gaps and fall short of preventing the worst-case scenario, experts said.

From MSN:  Angeli Rose Gomez, the mother who was handcuffed outside Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was able to get inside the school and rescue her two children.

From YahooNews:   Daniel Defense, the maker of the rifles used by the Uvalde massacre killer, has used "incendiary ads" in the past, including one in which a toddler holds one of its rifles.

From TheIntercept:  The police aren't obligated to protect anyone NOT in their custody, as the Supreme Court has ruled twice.

From RollingStone:  Right wing lies about the Second Amendment and why they tell them are killing America's childrne.

From Vice:  The law enforcement personnel in Texas that arrived at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas on Tues., May 24th did the opposite of what their own training documentary videos show.

From Vox:  Uvalde police keep changing their story.

From TheDailyBeast:  The families in Uvalde, Texas who lost loved one in the Robb Elementary massacre say that the cops there are "Nothing more than cowards" and that they need to pay for doing nothing while a gunman rampaged through the school last Tues, May 24th.

From TheNewYorker:  Thoughts and prayers, Uvalde, Texas. This is the America that Republicans and the right wing have being thinking about and praying for all these decades.

From ABC:  Sources say that Uvalde police and school district no longer cooperating with Texas probe of shooting of the May 24th massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.

From GuardianUK:  Canada plans to freeze all handgun ownership.

From RSNWashPost:  Is it time to show the true horror of mass shooting - in pictures?

From MSN:  Angeli Gomez, the Uvalde mother who rescued her two children from the Robb Elementary shooting massacre, says that a police officer threatened to arrest her if she did not stop telling her story.

From RSNTheAtlantic:  The Uvalde police chose dishonor. Where was there courage?

From RSNWashPost:  Brenda Bell:  I hid from the Texas Tower sniper (Charles Joseph Whitman) in 1966. His successors have found us all.

From RSNTheIntercept:  "AR-15s Were Made to Explode Human Bodies. In Uvalde, the Bodies Belonged to Children" by Murtaza Hussain

From RSNNPR:  The tragic history of police responding too late to active shooters.

From VICE:  There is likely bodycam footage of the school shooting in Uvalde, TX, but the public may never see it.

BLM-BUFFALO:

From ABCNews:  A 18-year-old white MAN shot 13 people, killing 10 at a Buffalo, New York Tops Friendly Markets supermarket on Saturday, May 14, 2021.

From RSNAP:  The white male suspect in the Buffalo Tops Supermarket shooting, Payton Gendron, was charged with federal hate crimes on Wed., June 15th and could face the death penalty if convicted.

From Truthout:  The racist attack in Buffalo at the Tops Friendly supermarket was crafted to terrorize us.  We can fight back, and here’s how we fight back.

From WGRZ:  Who are the victims of the Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets grocery store shooting. This comes from local station WGRZ Channel 2 and includes video and some victim photos.

From BuffaloNews:  One of the 10 Black murder victims of the Buffalo massacre was Katherine "Kat" Massey.  She was a leader in her community and civil rights activist and advocate for education.

From NewYorkPost:  One of the 10 Black murder victims of the Buffalo massacre was Andre Mackniel. He was at TOPS Supermaket to pick up a birthday cake for his son.

From Truthout:  The racist attack in Buffalo, NY at the Tops supermarket was crafted to terrorize us, so here is how we fight back.

From CNN:  What is known about the 18-year-old MAN, Payton Gendron.

From NPR:  198 mass shooting this year ... so far.

From Truthout:  White supremacist massacre of 10 people in Buffalo, NY shows that the “Alt-Right” ideology leads to murder.

From RollingStone:  Buffalo rampage killing is "Straight Up Racially Motivated Hate Crime."

From InformedComment:  Rene Binet, the originator the "great replacement" was a French Nazi, and he saw all American as "Negroes," an "impure mestizo 'race'."

From WashPost:  Only 22 people saw the live-stream of a white terrorist kill Black shoppers at the Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets supermarket, but millions have seen it since...

From GuardianUK:  Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets shooter may have been motivated by "eco-fascism," a focus on overpopulation and environmental degradation.

From RSN:  "What Lessons Have We Learned From the Buffalo Shooting?" by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

From Truthout:  “Innocent” White People Are Also Complicit in the Anti-Black Murders in Buffalo by George Yancy.

From Truthout:  "Black Lives Matter" cofounder discovered that Alicia Garza has learned that her name is mentioned in the Buffalo Tops supermarket killer's manifesto.

From GuardianUK:   Cornell West says, "Trump isn't out there with a gun, but he's enabled this war against Black people.

From Slate:  From the Tulsa Race Massacre to the Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets shootings: the legacy of anti-Black violence.

From Truthout:  After mass shootings, Republicans shield white supremacists from scrutiny

From MSN:  Angeli Gomez, the Uvalde mom who rescued her children from the school shooting at Robb Elementary, says that local police have threatened to have her arrested if she does not stop telling her story.

UKRAINE:

From TheDailyBeast:  Russian soldiers allegedly raped and killed a 1-year-old Ukrainian boy and have reportedly raped or sexually abused children as young as 9 months old.

HATE WATCH:

From NPR:  31 members of the white nationalist Patriot Front arrested near a "Pride Month" event in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  They are believed to have been planning to riot held at a local before moving on to rioting downtown.  They were not the only haters trying to sour the "Pride in the Park" event, which included families with children.

From SpokesmanReview:  The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office released the names and photos of all 31 "Patriot Front" members who are suspects in a planned riot at the "Pride Month" event in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.


Thursday, April 14, 2022

Review: "KINGSMAN: The Golden Circle" Improves on the First Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 of 2022 (No. 1834) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Running time: 141 minutes (2 hours, 21 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of strong violence, drug content, language throughout and some sexual content
DIRECTOR:  Matthew Vaughn
WRITERS:  Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn (based on on the comic book, The Secret Service, by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons)
PRODUCERS:  Adam Bohling, David Reid, and Matthew Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  George Richmond (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Eddie Hamilton
COMPOSERS:  Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson

COMEDY/ACTION/SPY/SCI-FI

Starring:  Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Mark Strong, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Edward Holcroft, Hanna Alström, Calvin Demba, Thomas Turgoose, Tobi Bakare, Bruce Greenwood, Emily Watson, Elton John, Sophie Cookson, and Michael Gambon

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a 2017 spy movie and action-comedy from director Matthew Vaughn.  It is a direct sequel to the 2015 film, Kingsman: The Secret Service.  Both films are based on characters and elements from the 2012 comic book, The Secret Service, by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons.  The Golden Circle focuses on two elite secret organizations that must band together to defeat a common enemy that is holding the world hostage.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle opens a year after Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton) defeated and killed the diabolical Internet billionaire, Richmond Valentine.  Eggsy has officially joined the independent intelligence agency, Kingsman, and has taken his late mentor. Harry Hart's (Colin Firth) position as agent “Galahad.”  Eggsy is also dating Tilde (Hanna Alström), Crown Princess of Sweden, whom he saved from Valentine.

One night in London, Eggsy is ambushed by Charlie Hesketh (Edward Holcroft), a rejected Kingsman applicant.  Eggsy defeats Charlie, who escapes.  However, Charlie has a new employer, a mysterious organization known as “The Golden Circle.”  Its leader, Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of illegal drugs and narcotics, launches an attack against the Kingsman that leaves the agency devastated.  The survivors, Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong), make contact with “Statesman,” the American counterpart of Kingsman, which uses a Kentucky-based bourbon whiskey business as a front.  [The Kingsman's front is as a Savile Row tailor.]

With the help of the Statesman, Agent Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and Ginger Ale (Halle Berry), Eggsy tries to stop Poppy Adams' plot to use a toxin in the drugs and narcotics she sells to hold the world for ransom.  She wants her demands met or she will withhold an antidote to the toxin, which means hundreds of millions of people will die.  In order to stop her, Eggsy will have to face many challenges … and a number of surprising reveals.

I enjoyed Kingsman: The Secret Service quite a bit, but it was mostly a substance-free past-time.  As much as I enjoyed the film, I had mostly forgotten about it a few hours after seeing it.  Kingsman: The Golden Circle isn't quite as substance-free as its predecessor.  The bonds and obligations of friendship and love weigh on the characters, especially Eggsy.  He can no longer just live for the job, not when there is a serious relationship commitment in front of him.

I found some of the Statesman characters to be either superfluous or simply boring, with the exception of Halle Berry's Ginger Ale.  I am a longtime fan of Berry's, and she makes the casually smart and calm Ginger an endearing character.  Elton John also makes a surprising and shocking turn as something of a fun and offbeat action hero.

The film also has a wacky-ass and fun soundtrack.  It uses John Denver's 1971 hit, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” including a poignant version sung by Mark Strong's Merlin.  There are a few Elton John hits, of course, some performed in the film by Elton.  The best song on the soundtrack may be a funky, country rock version of Cameo's “Word Up” by the German musical act “The BossHoss.”

Taron Egerton as Eggsy has star appeal and leading man quality, which is a surprise to me.  I wish the film had given some of the narrative time devoted to the Statesman characters back to Eggsy.  Egerton takes the Kingsman film franchise to the next level.  Kingsman: The Golden Circle is an improvement over the original film, enough of an improvement that I hope to see another sequel.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, February 16, 2022


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Review: "Shazam!" Makes a Joyful Noise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Shazam! (2019)
Running time:  132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of action, language, and suggestive material
DIRECTOR:  David F. Sandberg
WRITERS:  Henry Gayden; from a story by Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke (based on the characters created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck)
PRODUCER:  Peter Safran
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Maxime Alexandre
EDITOR:  Michel Aller
COMPOSER:  Benjamin Wallfisch

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION/COMEDY

Starring:  Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Glazer, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews, Grace Fulton, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Meagan Good, Andi Osho, John Glover, and Djimon Hounsou

Shazam! is a 2019 superhero and fantasy film from director David F. Sandberg.  The film is based on the DC Comics character now called “Shazam.”  In the movie Shazam!, a 14-year-old foster kid becomes a superhero merely by uttering one magic word, SHAZAM!

Shazam! introduces a mysterious wizard named, Shazam (Djimon Hounsou), who lives in the cave where rests the “Rock of Eternity,” a place that is the home of all magic.  Shazam is looking for a worthy human, who will utter his name and become a champion who also bears the name, Shazam.  After finding so many humans who failed to live up to his standards, Shazam is running out of time.  Now, he hopes that Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a 14-year-old foster kid with a history of petty crime and of running away from foster homes, is his champion.

When Billy shouts SHAZAM!, he becomes an adult (Zachary Levi), a grown man wearing a red superhero costume and possessing incredible powers that Billy cannot imagine.  Now, with the help of his foster brother, Freddie Freeman (Jack Dylan Glazer), Billy will try to learn what powers he has and the extent of those powers.  Meanwhile, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), who failed Shazam's test of worthiness when he was a child over four decades ago, now possesses the dark powers against which the wizard fought.  Sivana is determined to discover the identity of the new champion and then, to steal that champion's powers for himself.

First a note:  the DC Comics character, Shazam, was the first comic book character to have the name “Captain Marvel.”  A boy named Billy Batson became Captain Marvel by uttering the word, “Shazam!”  Captain Marvel was created by comic book artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker.  He first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated:  February 1940) which was published by Fawcett Comics.  A legal dispute caused Fawcett to stop publishing Captain Marvel comic books in 1953.  DC Comics revived the character in 1972, but by then, Marvel Comics owned the trademark to the name “Captain Marvel.”  Thus, the original Captain Marvel is now called Shazam.

Marvel Studios released a film starring Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019.  Perhaps, it is a coincidence that in the same year Warner Bros. releases a movie starring Shazam.  And I have to be honest.  I like Marvel's Captain Marvel film, and I like Warner's Shazam just as much.

Shazam is a hugely enjoyable film that is part energetic superhero movie, part charming comedy, and part heartwarming family film.  The superhero action is not as intense as that found in most superhero films.  Much of the superhero action revolves around Zachary Levi's adult hero and Jack Dylan Glazer's Freddie Freeman executing a number of often humorous experiments to learn about Shazam's powers.  The charm comes from the attitude of the film.  Much of Shazam is about teenagers learning not only how to be good people, but also about learning how to be good to the people in their lives.  Shazam probably presents one of the most favorable views of foster parents and of the foster home in recent memory.  And I found that quite heartwarming.  Shazam is at heart an unabashed family film about the joys, comfort, and love of having a family.

One element that makes this film so surprisingly delightful are the performances.  Mark Strong as Dr. Sivana does what he can do so well – be really good at being a really bad guy.  In playing a kid who is suddenly in an adult body, Zachary Levi recalls Tom Hanks' performance in the 1988 film, Big.  Sixteen-year-old Asher Angel shows adult acting chops playing teenage Billy Batson.  Jack Dylan Glazer is uncannily good as Freddie Freeman, and he practically steals every scene in which he is featured.  If there is a children's version of the Oscars, then, Glazer...

Truthfully, every actor who appears in Shazam turns in a good performance or at least tries pretty hard to do so.  So I send a shout out to Faithe Herman in her winning turn as Darley Dudley.

The film is well-written and tightly-directed, both of which is required of comedy films.  I have to give a shout-out to the film editor, Michel Aller, because I think the editing contributed a lot to this film's engaging tone and practically perfect pace.

I think that this review cannot totally convey how surprised – delightfully surprised – I am at how much I like this movie.  I once thought that Shazam! would be a disaster, but I end up having such a good time watching it that I want to see it again.  I even want a sequel.  And I heartily recommend Shazam!, a superhero film for the entire family.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, April 6, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Saturday, November 4, 2017

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from November 1st to 4th, 2017 - Update #24

Support Leroy on Patreon.

MUSIC - From YahooNews:   The last Tejano music singer, Selena Quintanilla, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Friday evening, November 3rd, 2017.

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BOX OFFICE - From Collider:  "Thor: Ragnarok" conquers all comers.

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From Variety:  "Thor: Ragnarok" looking at a $115 million opening weekend.

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CELEBRITY - From BET:  Beyonce shuts it down when she posts five different versions of her Halloween costume as rapper Li'l Kim.

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MOVIES - From THR:  Paramount pays $10 million to distribute "Book Club," a comedy starring Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, and Candice Bergen in the U.S., the U.K., and France.

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TELEVISION - From TheWrap:  Warner Bros. is reportedly in early talks with the estate of J.R.R. Tolkein to develop "The Lord of the Rings" into a television series.  The books have already been adapted into films twice - first as an animated film by Ralph Bakshi and then back in 2001 to 2003 by Warner's subsidiary, New Line, with Peter Jackson directing.

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CRIME - From VICE:  Two NYPD cops are charged with rape and didnapping after a teen's desperate public plea.

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SCANDAL - From Variety: Netflix has fired Kevin Spacey from its series, "House of Cards."  It has also said that it would cancel its Gore Vidal biopic, "Gore," that was set to star Spacey.

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BOX OFFICE - From TheWrap: "Thor: Ragnarok's" opens with a thunderous $14.5 million.

From YahooEntertainment:  Your guide to "Thor: Ragnarok."

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SCANDAL - From YahooEntertainment: Brett Ratner strikes back!  He sues the woman who accused him of raping her.

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MOVIES - From CinemaBlend:  Thomas Jane describes the setup of "The Predator," the reboot of the "Predator" film franchise.

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SCANDAL - From YahooNews:  Did you know that there is a rape investigation involving actor Danny Masterson of "That 70s Show?"

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STREAMING - From TVLine:  CBS is planning a revival of "The Twilight Zone" for its streaming service, CBS All Access, with Jordan Peele's production company being involved.

---------
COMICS-FILM - From TheWrap:  Mark Strong is in talks to play the villian, Dr. Sivana, in the "Shazam" movie from Warner Bros./DC Comics.

----------
SPORTS - From HoustonChronicle:  The Houston Astros are the 2017 World Series Champions of Major League Baseball, after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers (National League) 5 to 1 in Game 7.  This is the Astros first World Series title.

----------
STREAMING - From TVLine:  Hulu is developing a series based on the 1994 hit movie, "Four Weddings and a Funeral," with Mindy Kaling.

----------
DISNEY - From Deadline:  Beyonce officially joins Disney's live-action remake of "The Lion King," directed by Jon Favreau.

----------
SCANDAL - From THR:  Warner Bros. and Brett Ratner part ways, in the light of sexual misconduct accusations against Ratner.

----------
MOVIES - From THR:  Buzzy actress Chrissy Metz ("This is Us") joins the horror movie, "The Will O Wisp."

----------
SCANDAL - From Deadline:  Two more men step forward to make allegations of abuse by Kevin Spacy, one in 2003 and one in the 1980s.

From YahooLifestyle:  Did Kevin Spacey hint at his behavior during his 2000 Oscar speech?

----------
MOVIES - From Variety:  Brett Ratner accused of sexual allegations by six women, including actress Natasha Henstridge.

----------
ANIME - From THR:  Oscar-winning Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has come out of retirement (again) to make another animated film.  The title is "Kimitachi wa Do Ikiru Ka."

----------
SCANDAL - From TheWrap:  CBS is investigating sexual assault accusations against Jeremy Piven, star of its new series, "Wisdom of the Crowd."

----------
TELEVISION - From Deadline:  NBC has committed to the "Bad Boys" spinoff TV series starring Gabrielle Union with a pilot production committment.

----------
STREAMING - From DeadlineTV:  Diane Lane will join the slate of guest stars on Amazon's "The Romanoffs."

OBITS:

From Deadline:  Television actor, Brad Bufanda, has died at the age of 34, Wednesday, November 1, 2017.  He is best known for his role as Felix Toombs on "Veronica Mars."  He died of an apparent suicide.

From NPR:  Native American activist, Dennis Banks, died at the age of 80, Sunday, October 29, 2017.  Banks helped lead the occupation at Wounded Knee in 1973 and he was a co-founder of the American Indian Movement.




Friday, August 28, 2015

Review: Villains Rule "Kingsman"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 33 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review first appeared on Patreon.]

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  U.K.
Running time: 129 minutes (2 hours, 9 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of strong violence, language and some sexual content
DIRECTOR:  Matthew Vaughn
WRITERS:  Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn (based on on the comic book, The Secret Service, by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons)
PRODUCERS:  Adam Bohling, David Reid, and Matthew Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  George Richmond    
EDITORS:  Eddie Hamilton and Jon Harris
COMPOSERS:  Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson

COMEDY/ACTION/SPY/SCI-FI

Starring:  Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Caine, Sofia Boutella, Sophie Cookson, Hanna Alstrom, Samantha Womack, Geoff Bell, and Mark Hamill

Kingsman: The Secret Service is a 2015 British spy movie and action-comedy from director Matthew Vaughn.  It is based on the 2012 comic book, The Secret Service, by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, who are also both executive producers on the film.  Millar co-created the comic book, Kick-Ass, and Gibbons co-created the Watchmen comic book.  Kingsman: The Secret Service follows a street kid who is recruited into a secret spy organization.

Kingsman: The Secret Service opens in 1997 during a raid in the Middle East, in which an agent sacrifices himself to save his team.  Feeling guilt, agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth), code-named “Galahad,” visits the agent's wife and young son.  Seventeen years later, Galahad comes to the rescue of the son, Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton), who is now an unemployed adult.

Galahad introduces Eggsy to the “Kingsman,” a secret intelligence agency comprised of the members of the British upper crust.  Galahad convinces Eggsy to join the Kingsman's ultra-competitive training program, but only one member of a recruiting class will become a member of the Kingsman.

Meanwhile, billionaire tech genius, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), has hatched a plan to save the world from environmental catastrophe.  His activities draw the attention of the Kingsman, especially Galahad.  Because Galahad is his benefactor, Eggsy gets a close-up look of the Kingsman in action, but does this unrefined “street kid” have what it takes to be in this “secret service?”

As a spy movie, Kingsman: The Secret Service is more like some of the early James Bond movies, especially the ones that featured weird sci-fi gadgets.  Or maybe Kingsman: The Secret Service is what would happen if Roger Moore's James Bond became the leader of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) of the old television series, “Mission: Impossible.”

I must admit to enjoying Kingsman: The Secret Service quite a bit, but it is mostly a substance-free past-time.  As much as I enjoyed the film, I had mostly forgotten about it a few hours after seeing it.  If I watched it again, I would only watch certain scenes – mostly the fight scenes, especially the ones featuring the blade-legged Gazelle (Sofia Boutella).  There is not enough of her in this movie.

There are moments in Kingsman when it seems obvious to me that Colin Firth would make a good movie secret agent, not James Bond, but someone like Galahad.  [Or maybe that can be said about most quality British male actors.]  However, Samuel L. Jackson, as Valentine, seems to be the actor who most bought into the scenario.  He and Boutella make a great team and do a lot to make Kingsman a good movie; I wish their characters could return.

On the other hand, Taron Egerton may be an up-and-coming, young British actor, but as Eggsy, he lacks spark and charisma.  He is as flat as Sam Jackson is charismatic.  Kingsman's concept and story is ridiculous and contrived, but fun.  As the villain, Jackson is the one who most sells the movie, even more so than the actors playing the good guys.

A sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service has already been announced.  As much as I enjoyed this movie, I can't imagine the sequel working without another great villainous pair like Jackson and Boutella.  I hope they find one.

6 of 10
B

Tuesday, July 14, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.



Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Review: "Zero Dark Thirty" is History as a Great Story

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Running time:  157 minutes (2 hours, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence including brutal disturbing images, and for language
DIRECTOR:  Kathryn Bigelow
WRITER:  Mark Boal
PRODUCERS: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, and Megan Ellison
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Greg Fraser (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor
COMPOSER:  Alexandre Desplat
Academy Award winner

WAR/DRAMA/ACTION

Starring:  Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Reda Kateb, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle, Harold Perrineau, Jeremy Strong, J.J. Kandle, Lauren Shaw, Jessica Collins, Fredric Lehne, Joel Edgerton, Nash Edgerton, Edgar Ramirez, Mike Colter, Yoav Levi, Mark Strong, and James Gandolfini

Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 war film and suspense thriller from director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal, the creators of The Hurt Locker.  Zero Dark Thirty dramatizes the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, leading up to his death at the hands of Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6.  In my estimation, it is one of the best films of 2012 and one of the few truly great films about war in the 21st century.

Zero Dark Thirty begins with a brief audio recount of the events of the September 11, 2001 attacks.  The film moves to the year 2003 and introduces Maya (Jessica Chastain), a young officer in the CIA (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency).  Since graduating high school, Maya has spent her entire career focused solely on gathering intelligence related to al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.  Assigned to Pakistan, Maya witnesses the torture (including water-boarding and humiliation) of detainee prisoners.

Eventually, Maya begins to focus on a mysterious figure known as Abu Ahmed, who is allegedly working as a personal courier for bin Laden.  Maya sifts through masses of data and information, using a variety of technology and her own hunches and insights, but the years pass without her finding Ahmed or bin Laden.  Back in the United States, the political climate changes; a new U.S. Presidential administration arrives, and Maya’s CIA superiors stop believing in her work.  Now, this one agent has to battle the system if she is going to remain on the trail of clues that will lead her to bin Laden.

Fascinating, intriguing, thrilling, and suspenseful:  I could go on, but I’ll simply say that Zero Dark Thirty is truly a gripping film narrative.  It grabbed a hold of my imagination and my heart, and I was practically endlessly captivated by this truly unique film.  It is a testament to the filmmaking and storytelling skills of director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal.

Boal has the ability to take a decade’s worth of intelligence activity:  the good, the bad, the boring, the important, and the inconsequential and to summarize that into one story.  He uses the most interesting and important information as subplots – all on the way to creating a riveting screen story.

Much has been made of the fact that Bigelow is a woman film director who makes action movies and other types of films that are usually aimed at men.  The truth is that she is a highly skilled director whose films are like no one else’s.  Her success is that she makes movies that absorb the viewer into the story by creating action scenes that not only matter to the drama, but are also sometimes the drama.  Not all of Bigelow’s movies are great; it is simply that for most of the time in all of her movies, she occupies the viewer’s imagination.  When watching a Bigelow flick, it is not often that I find myself thinking about what I will be doing after the movie.

In Maya, Jessica Chastain fashions a female character that is truly a heroine.  Zero Dark Thirty turns on the idea that one woman fights the system to lead the hunt for Osama bin Laden.  So Chastain has to not only create a female lead that can carry a CIA movie, but also create a female lead that the audience will believe is capable going into the dark places she goes and doing the contentious things she must do.  In a world of exceedingly dangerous times, of deceitful men, and of alpha males, Maya has to be a stubborn mule, fierce lioness, and the smartest guy in the room, all at the same time.  It seems as if she must also lose something of herself in certain situations and at certain times.  There are scenes in Zero Dark Thirty in which Maya seems like nothing more than a wraith, a human turned into a shadowy leftover by her cause.

I believe that Jennifer Lawrence, as Tiffany Maxwell in Silver Linings Playbook, won the best actress Oscar over Chastain as Maya because Tiffany, complicated though she is, is girl-next-door likeable.  Maya is a complicated personality and is morally comprised, and her dedication to her job hunting bin Laden is like an affliction.  What’s to like about that?  A lot actually, but it is easier to like wounded duckling Tiffany.

I am glad that Zero Dark Thirty had people questioning the filmmakers’ intentions.  That means that people thought the movie was worth the mental effort to engage it.  It is a great film, nearly perfect.  I think the raid on bin Laden’s compound, which takes up the film’s last half hour is a little clumsy in its staging.  Bigelow’s effort to “keep it real,” took something away from the drama and intensity of that raid.  Still, Zero Dark Thirty will stand the test of time.  It may occasionally be forgotten, but as soon as something causes people to remember Zero Dark Thirty, people will be ready to engage the issues it raises again.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2013 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Paul N.J. Ottosson – tied with Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers for Skyfall); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, and Megan Ellison), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Jessica Chastain), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Mark Boal) and “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor)

2013 BAFTA Awards:  5 nominations: “Best Film” (Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison, and Mark Boal), “Best Leading Actress” (Jessica Chastain), “Best Original Screenplay” (Mark Boal), “Best Editing” (Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Kathryn Bigelow)

2013 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Jessica Chastain); 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” Best Director - Motion Picture” (Kathryn Bigelow), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Mark Boal)

Friday, January 31, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.



Thursday, September 13, 2012

Review: "John Carter" Will Show You a Good Time

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 73 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carter (2012)
Running time: 132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action
DIRECTOR: Andrew Stanton
WRITERS: Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon (based upon the novel, A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
PRODUCERS: Lindsey Collins, Jim Morris, and Colin Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dan Mindel (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Eric Zumbrunnen
COMPOSER: Michael Giacchino

FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/SCI-FI

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Bryan Cranston, Daryl Sabara, and (voices) Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church

The subject of this movie review is John Carter, a 2012 American science fiction and fantasy film released by Walt Disney Pictures. John Carter is the first live-action film from director Andrew Stanton, who won Oscars for directing the computer-animated films, Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008) for Pixar.

John Carter is largely based upon the 1917 novel, A Princess of Mars, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (the creator of Tarzan of the Apes). A Princess of Mars began life in 1912 as Under the Moons of Mars, a serial in the pulp fiction magazine, The All-Story. A Princess of Mars is the first novel in the 11-book “Barsoom series” The film focuses on a former Confederate Army officer of the American Civil War who is transported to Mars, where he meets a princess in desperate need of a savior.

It is 1868, and John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is in the Arizona Territory where he has a dangerous encounter with the Apache. After escaping them, Carter hides in a cave. He has an extraordinary experience in which he gets transported to the planet Mars, which the inhabitants call “Barsoom.” There, he meets 15-foot tall Martians called Tharks and the human-like Red Martians. Two of the Red Martian cities, Zodanga and Helium, have been at war for a thousand years. However, the Therns, a group of mystic types, have taken Zodanga’s side.

Thern leader, Matai Shang (Mark Strong), gives Sab Than (Dominic West), the leader of Zodanga, a special weapon which will turn the tide of the war in his favor. Now, Than can force a ceasefire and use his advantage to demand that Tardos Mors (Ciaran Hinds), surrender his daughter, Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins), to him for a marriage that will unite Zodanga and Helium. When Dejah meets John Carter, she see someone who can save her people from Than’s machinations. After the losses he suffered during the Civil War, however, is John Carter ready to help a princess of Mars?

First, let me say that as far as I can tell, not only are there no African-American actors in John Carter, but there are also no Black actors providing voices in this film. That’s consistent with Pixar films, in which there are, at best, token participation of African-American actors and other actors of color. Anyway…

John Carter is an entertaining film. It was something of a major box office disappointment, and Disney reportedly took a write-off somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 million dollars because of John Carter. Some movies deserve to be flops, but John Carter isn’t one of them. It’s one of those odd, swashbuckling, effects-laden adventure movies that come across as weird when you only see a few minutes of it in a trailer or commercial. These movies fail to meet box office expectations, but I think when people see them, they realize what harmless, even charming fun these movies are. Another example would be Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, another pricey Disney disappointment at the box office.

A Princess of Mars and the other Barsoom novels would go on to influence science fiction writers such as Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury and such film’s as James Cameron’s Avatar and George Lucas’ Star Wars. However, the series is outdated and quaint, and the genre to which it belongs, interplanetary romance, is practically dead. Some readers of science fiction and fantasy and also people interested in pulp fiction and nostalgia will like the Barsoom stories. Beyond that, much of the audience for movies may ask, what’s the point of this? So much about this movie is just too old-fashioned, outdated, and weird for modern audiences.

John Carter is, from the point of production values and special visual effects, quite well made. The screenplay is as wonky as the source material, but the actors seem genuinely interested in selling their characters and this concept. The big problem with this movie is that the gadgets, tech, and other science fiction stuff – all the cool toys – are under-utilized. John Carter is more like a sword and sandal/sword and sorcery, Conan the Barbarian movie than it is a science fiction movie. Plus, there isn’t enough Mark Strong in this film; you can never have too much Mark Strong.

Anyway, movie audiences that enjoy anything science fiction and fantasy will find an entertaining oddity in John Carter. I liked it, and wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, September 13, 2012

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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Gary Oldman the Master of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 48 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.K. with France
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, some sexuality/nudity and language
DIRECTOR: Tomas Alfredson
WRITERS: Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan (based on the novel by John le Carré)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Robyn Slovo
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hoyte Van Hoytema (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Dino Jonsäter
COMPOSER: Alberto Iglesias
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/SPY/THRILLER/HISTORICAL

Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Toby Jones, David Dencik, Ciarán Hinds, Simon McBurney, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Stephen Graham, Kathy Burke, Jamie Thomas King, Stuart Grahma, Svetlana Khodchenkova, William Haddock, and John Hurt

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 British drama and espionage film. It is a co-production between British film production company, Working Title Films, and the French StudioCanal and is based upon John le Carré’s 1974 novel, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The film is set in London in the early 1970s and focuses on an espionage veteran who returns from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent working within British Intelligence. It is one of the best films of 2011.

In October 1973, Control (John Hurt), the head of the British Intelligence Service (known as “the Circus”), sends agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) on a mission to Hungary, which goes badly wrong. Control and his right-hand man, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), are forced into retirement.

Later, Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney), a civil servant in charge of intelligence, brings Smiley out of retirement. Lacon tells Smiley that Control, who is now dead, believed that the Soviet Union had managed to place a mole (or spy) in a senior role in British Intelligence and that the mole had been there for a long time. Control had assigned codenames to the senior intelligence officers that he suspected of being the Soviet mole. They are Percy Alleline, “Tinker” (Toby Jones); Bill Haydon, “Tailor” (Colin Firth); Roy Bland, “Soldier” (Ciarán Hinds); and Toby Esterhase, “Poorman” (David Dencik). Smiley takes the assignment only to learn that he is “Beggarman,” Control’s fifth suspect.

I could easily consider Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy a slowing moving spy movie, but I choose to view it as a delicious gumbo on simmer that slowly cooks to perfection. In this case, the perfection is the last half-hour of the movie, which is outstanding and begins with a brilliant scene featuring Smiley, Lacon, and a cabinet minister. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the kind of dense and layered story an espionage film should be… at least when it’s not being a James Bond movie.

Of course, a film adaptation of John le Carré loses the depth, the morsels, and the back story of the novels. The film works because it is a character drama that takes the international intrigue that was the Cold War and transforms it into a conflict (a game, or even a war) between rivals, within and without British Intelligence. The story becomes one about personalities and indeed; the conflicts are more personal and more intimate than they are large-scale and extra-national or international. The movie is a story of lonely and desperate men who can never reveal their secrets to others, even to the point that they become a mystery to themselves.

Such a character drama relies on great performances, and there are many. Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch are excellent in strong supporting roles. David Dencik gives extra to Esterhase, enlarging a character that could have been not much more than a superficial little prick.

The most important performance is, of course, Gary Oldman’s. I’ve thought of him as a genius since I first started seeking out films in which he appeared some 20 years ago. He plays George Smiley as a tiger ready to pounce, as an intense man of action, and as the consummate spymaster who leads men and manipulates others to achieve his ends. What is amazing is that Oldman pulls this off by playing Smiley as a quiet, detached man, so that in the moments when he does strike, the viewer is both surprised at this sudden turn and also amazed at what Oldman is keeping under wraps as Smiley.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is superbly directed by Tomas Alfredson and expertly written by the husband and wife team of Peter Straughan and the late Bridget O'Connor (to whom this film is dedicated). It is simply a great film. However, the strength of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is Gary Oldman, the master of this spy game and the winner of this chess match of espionage.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2012 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Gary Oldman), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Alberto Iglesias), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan)

2012 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan) and “Outstanding British Film” (Peter Straughan, Robyn Slovo, Tomas Alfredson, Bridget O'Connor, Eric Fellner, and Tim Bevan); 9 nominations: “Best Film” (Tim Bevan, Robyn Slovo, Eric Fellner), “Best Leading Actor” (Gary Oldman), “Best Cinematography” (Hoyte Van Hoytema), “Best Costume Design” (Jacqueline Durran), “Best Director” (Tomas Alfredson), “Best Editing” (Dino Jonsäter), “Best Original Music” (Alberto Iglesias), “Best Production Design” (Tatiana Macdonald and Maria Djurkovic), “Best Sound” (Doug Cooper, Andy Shelley, Howard Bargroff, John Casali, and Stephen Griffiths)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Brendan Gleeson Shines in "The Guard"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Guard (2011)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Ireland
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language, some violence, drug material and sexual content
WRITER/DIRECTOR: John Michael McDonagh
PRODUCERS: Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez-Marengo, Ed Guiney, and Andrew Lowe
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Larry Smith
EDITOR: Chris Gill
COMPOSER: Calexico
BAFTA nominee

CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Katarina Cas, Laurence Kinlan, Pat Shortt, Darren Healy, Gary Lydon, Wale Ojo, and Michael Og Lane

The Guard is a 2011 Irish crime comedy starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle (who is also one of the film’s executive producers). Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh (Ned Kelly), the film focuses on an unorthodox Garda (Irish policeman) and a tightly wound FBI agent in pursuit of international drug dealers.

Straight-laced FBI Special Agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) arrives in Ireland on the trail of international drug dealers, specifically four suspects. Everett meets Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson), a wisecracking and confrontational local Garda from the village of Galway. Boyle may already have a lead on the drug smugglers, but he chooses to annoy the American instead of helping him. When the drug-related violence and murder get close to him, however, Boyle suddenly finds himself doing police work way beyond anything he has ever done before.

The Guard is a weird film. Perhaps, I did not expect an Irish film to be so quirky as to seem like a movie from Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums). This film is both a crime comedy and a black comedy, so it is violent and twisted. Also, every moment in the film that attempts to be poignant are sabotaged by the profane and scabrous.

Writer/director John Michael McDonagh gives the film satirical flourishes by poking fun at the Irish city of Dublin and also at the miscues of the highest law enforcement agencies in both the U.S. and the U.K. He defiantly fills his film with so many odd characters, like Eugene Moloney (Michael Og Lane), the weird kid obsessed with the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and a young odd duck who photographs crime scenes in loving, gruesome detail. That many eccentrics could ruin a movie, but McDonagh deftly keeps these characters and their strangeness in check.

He has to keep these characters under control so that they don’t stand in the way of Brendan Gleeson’s fragrantly pungent turn as Gerry Boyle. The verbally adroit Gleeson spits out the dialogue McDonagh wrote for him as if he were battling Eminem. It is a showy performance on the part of Gleeson, but he does it with such veteran ease that his seems natural. Boyle may be a loser living a crude life of lust and drink, but he isn’t doing it half-assed.

What keeps the film from being great is that it does not give us what its premise promises – a warped version of the buddy-cop movie. Gleeson and Don Cheadle are not together enough – for me, at least. When Cheadle’s Wendell Everett is with Gleeson’s Boyle, they seem perfectly matched for some mismatched comedy duo gold. The Guard only gives us Boyle/Everett in chopped up bits that never last that long, until the last act, which is a shame.

I must also note that I wish Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, and David Wilmot’s villainous characters were more developed, as they could be the stars of their own movie. There is nothing wrong with The Guard focusing on Gleeson’s Boyle, but as the film’s final moments focus on Cheadle’s Everett, it becomes obvious that The Guard misses out on being a buddy-cop classic.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2012 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Original Screenplay” (John Michael McDonagh)

2012 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Brendan Gleeson)

2012 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor” (Don Cheadle)

2012 Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Don Cheadle)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Review: "The Eagle" Soars on the Performances of its Leads

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 64 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Eagle (2011)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for battle sequences and some disturbing images
DIRECTOR: Kevin Macdonald
WRITER: Jeremy Brock Rosemary Sutcliff (based on the novel, The Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff)
PRODUCER: Duncan Kenworthy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Anthony Dod Mantle
EDITOR: Justine Wright

HISTORICAL/DRAMA/ACTION

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong, Tahar Rahimm Ned Dennehy, Thomas Henry, and Denis O’Hare

The Eagle is a 2011 historical film from Kevin Macdonald, who directed The Last King of Scotland (2006). The Eagle is based upon The Eagle of the Ninth, a 1954 historical adventure novel written by Rosemary Sutcliff. The Eagle follows a young Roman officer’s journey to find a lost Roman eagle standard in the wild north of Great Britain, which the Roman Empire does not control.

In the year 140 AD, 20 years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Caledonia (Scotland), Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum), a young Roman centurion, arrives in Britain to serve as a garrison commander. Marcus also hopes to redeem his family’s honor and to restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth.

Accompanied only by his British slave, Esca (Jamie Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian’s Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia, beyond the frontier of the Roman Empire. There, he will not only confront the mystery of his father’s disappearance, but also the savage tribes of the north, in particular, the Seal People. Along the way, Marcus will learn the truth about Esca, the fate of the Ninth Legion, and the whereabouts of the legion’s golden standard, the Eagle of the Ninth.

The Eagle belongs to a sub-genre of the adventure and historical film genres that some critics, reviewers, and fans call “sword and sandal” (or “sword and shield” as Roger Ebert calls them). Troy, 300, and Gladiator (the best picture Oscar winner back in 2000) are recent examples of sword and sandal flicks. Like those films, The Eagle is about men of war and about the honor they seek to gain, regain, or retain.

However, this film offers something more. Marcus Aquila is clearly the hero, and his quest to recover the eagle standard is a heroic one. However, the society to which he belongs, the Roman Empire, is not heroic. The film contrasts Marcus’ behavior as a warrior with Rome’s behavior towards the people the empire conquers. The film views the quest for honor from two sides – Rome and Rome’s opponents – is personified by Marcus’ slave, Esca, played by Jamie Bell, who gives this film’s best performance.

What appeals to me about this film is that it is a rousing, manly adventure that is open to different points of view – including those of the antagonists. The Eagle reminds us that while war, even battle, may seem simple, it is complex, indeed, even messy.

The Eagle is not perfect. Marcus’ time at the garrison, the battles, and the chases through the forest are superb cinema, while the character moments are somewhat dull. I for one liked Channing Tatum’s pugnacious performance. It is the movie star sweet to this movie’s determination not to be straight-forward rah-rah about war. The Eagle is a film I’ll come back to many times.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Review: Colorful "Green Lantern" Film is Also a Bit Dim

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Green Lantern (2011)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
DIRECTOR: Martin Campbell
WRITERS: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, and Michael Goldenberg; from a screen story by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim (based upon the characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics)
PRODUCERS: Greg Berlanti and Donald De Line
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dion Beebe
EDITOR: Stuart Baird
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard

SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of drama

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Taika Waititi, Temuera Morrison, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins, Jay O. Sanders, and (voices) Clancy Brown, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Geoffrey Rush

Green Lantern is a 2011 superhero movie, and it is the fourth movie this year featuring a character that originated or made extensive appearances in comic books. Green Lantern has enough entertaining science fiction action and superhero theatrics, but not enough to hide the fact that the characters are either lame and onscreen too much or cool and onscreen too little.

First, some history: Green Lantern is a comic book superhero that first appeared in All-American Comics #16 (cover dated July 1940). The original version of Green Lantern was created by Bill Finger, the writer who essentially co-created Batman (but who doesn’t get official credit for that) and artist Martin Nodell. The original or “Golden Age” version of Green Lantern stopped appearing in comics by 1951.

In 1959, the modern version of Green Lantern, a space age and science fantasy revamp of the character, first appeared in the comic book, Showcase #22 (cover dated September-October 1959), in a story from writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane. This modern or “Silver Age” version of character is the one that stars in the new film, Green Lantern.

Green Lantern the movie focuses on brash test pilot, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Jordan’s bravado and recklessness has gotten him into trouble with his employer, Ferris Aircraft, and the company’s Vice-President, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), who is also Hal’s girlfriend. However, his strong-willed nature brings him to the attention of the alien, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), who is a Green Lantern. The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force that uses the “green essence of willpower” to keep peace. Their power is focused through a green power ring.

Sur is mortally wounded in a battle with Parallax (Clancy Brown), the ultimate being of fear, whom Sur defeated and imprisoned long ago. Sur’s ring chooses Jordan as a worthy successor, but Sur’s fellow Green Lanterns do not find Jordan worthy. Jordan is the first human to become a Green Lantern, and Thaal Sinestro (Mark Strong), something of a leader among the Corps, quickly and brutally tests Jordan, leading the new Lantern to also doubt why the ring chose him. He will, however, have no choice but to be a Green Lantern. Parallax is coming to Earth to take revenge against Hal Jordan because he is Abin Sur’s successor and to destroy Earth because it is Jordan’s home.

Early in Green Lantern, the movie’s soundtrack (music and sound) is so loud that it is hard to understand what the characters are saying. At times, this movie is merely a sound and light show that occasionally dazzles, while generally assaulting your hearing. But I suspect this sort of thing will appeal to children, especially boys, who will like the noise and the special effects, which range from striking to embarrassingly second-rate.

Young viewers are the ones unlikely to notice the thinly written drama and how good actors play laughable, pathetic characters. Here, are some examples: Peter Sarsgaard as the comical bad guy Hector Hammond; Tim Robbins as Robert Hammond, an empty suit politician and Hector’s awful father; Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, who is the standard action movie hero arm-candy/cheerleader [Belief in yourself! Sniff Sniff. You can do it, my brave hero man]; and poor, always under-utilized Angela Bassett as the generic government flunky, Dr. Amanda Waller. Then, there is Mark Strong, who builds Sinestro into an intriguing character and worthy rival of Jordan’s Green Lantern, only to see the character reduced to speechmaking.

I like Ryan Reynolds, with his physique that looks like it was molded to be an action figure, but I don’t buy him as a test pilot or superhero. With his big teeth, seemingly sculpted by a dentist who really wanted to be an artist, Reynolds looks like he should be a junior executive in some corporate sales division.

With so much going against it, Green Lantern actually entertains with its big superhero set pieces and action sequences. On the other hand, the movie grinds to a halt whenever the actors pretend to be people instead of superheroes and strange beings. It’s this mixture of fun, goofy superhero action and tedious character drama that makes Green Lantern average at best. This movie needs to be a lavish sci-fi adventure (the goofy), but it doesn’t need the derivative character motivation and conflict [Daddy was mean to me! I can’t conquer my self-doubt and fear]. Green Lantern works in fits and starts. Sometimes, it impresses; sometimes, it is clunky and ineffective.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, June 18, 2011